


pudding in your hands

by togekissies



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Thieves, F/F, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-25 18:40:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7543645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/togekissies/pseuds/togekissies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being chased by guards is just a normal risk that comes with being a thief. Saeko's used to it by now. What she doesn't expect is things to go sour and need to take a hostage to escape—and she especially doesn't expect the hostage to demand to be kidnapped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. part one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkmagicalgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkmagicalgirl/gifts).



> you've been such a wonderful presence in the past hqhols that i wanted to give you a really nice gift. thank you for taking the time to read/view and comment on everyone's work! i hope you enjoy this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a map, because i'm ridiculous.
> 
> [](http://imgur.com/9hy7Xjv)  
> 

Saeko has a problem.

Her problem isn't the heavy bag bouncing against her back as she runs. It's not the cobblestones that catch her boots and make her stumble. It's not even the people swearing at her as she blasts past them, or the stands of expensive junk she keeps bumping into, or the shrieks of red-faced merchants. Nor is it Futakuchi’s usual shit definition of an easy job, or what’s-his-face being a no-show. No, her problem is a much simpler one: she's being chased.

She must have at least a dozen guards on her tail, which she thinks is a new personal record. They're all dressed in the garish emerald green of Iron City's elite guard, though she can also spot the red plume of a squad captain when she glances back. Damn, she's really done it this time. She can't _wait_ to spin stories of this epic escape at a tavern later—as soon as she actually manages to escape.

She wheels around a corner and spots, to her delight, a large group of people huddled around what looks like a puppet show. She happily barrels through them, knocking a few out of her way and onto the ground. She tips over the puppet show backdrop for good measure.

Creating chaos cost Saeko precious seconds, and she just barely starts running again before the guards turn the corner. She runs down the center of the street to plant a false trail, then ducks to the side, doubles back, and hides in an alley.

She was hoping the alley was open, but it's blocked by a wooden fence. No problem, she's jumped dozens like it before. She takes a running start and launches herself at the fence, but she miscalculated. It's too tall, her arms are not long enough, and she's too winded from the smog from nearby factories sticking to her lungs. Saeko just barely grabs the top of the fence and her body slams into it. It's all she can do to keep herself from falling. She hears footsteps, freezes, turns her head. Guards run past. She doesn’t risk pulling herself up. She scarcely breathes. She's done it, she successfully shook them, she’s home free—

One glances her way.

Saeko hoists herself up the fence, on a windowsill, and up to the roof before he can finish raising the alarm. She feels too exposed on the roof, but she knows from experience few guards would dare follow her up here. Too many complaints from property owners about ruined windows and chimneys and such. Saeko likes the citizens of Iron City's priorities.

Her bag thuds rhythmically as she runs, her prizes clinking against each other. Saeko is just thinking she prefers the clay tiles of cities to the unstable straw and mud of smaller country villages when she jumps to a building with a tin roof—and slips. She falls.

Saeko lands in a soft pile of fabric, her first lucky break of the day. She rolls out of it, poised to bolt, and finds herself in a sleepy courtyard. At the center of the courtyard is a large, babbling fountain. Bright flowers fill the air with fragrance. It’s the only place she’s seen outside of the mayor’s quarters that isn’t bland, grey, and utilitarian. Saeko sees a few people milling about, mostly under awnings, and none seem to have noticed her yet. Good. Her luck is holding.

The courtyard has only one exit she can see, under a large archway. Saeko makes her way towards it casually, hoping all these fancily dressed people won't notice her ratty clothing and dirty face. She squeezes her bag closer to herself and grins. She's almost to the archway, she can taste freedom—and guards march in and spot her.

“It's her!” One of them says, pointing at her. “Get her! She threw a flowerpot at my head!”

“I did not!” Saeko shouts back, but then she notices he’s got dirt on his shoulders and, oh yeah, she did nail a guard with a flowerpot when she was leaving the mayor’s house, didn't she? She doubts he’ll listen to her explain how it was an accident and how she didn’t mean to elbow it over the balcony, so she turns on her heel and runs the other way.

There's no easy way to climb the walls for a repeat escape to the roofs, so she axes that plan. She looks frantically for a second exit she may have missed, but doesn't see one. She could try to fight off the guards with the knives she always keeps hidden on her person, but she's been up since before sunrise and has been running for ages. She's too tired to put up a fight.

Saeko doesn't want to do her final plan, but she has no choice if she wants to escape. She makes a sharp turn and heads for the fountain. The only person nearby is an old woman with her grey hair up in a braided bun and wearing an elegant green gown. Saeko grabs one of the woman's arms and twists it behind her and _wow_ this old bat is taller than Saeko thought. Her original plan was to hold her knife to the woman's throat, but she'll have to settle for pressing it to her ribs.

“Don't move,” Saeko says, loudly enough the guards can hear her. They stop half a dozen yards away. “I’m taking you hostage. Do what I say and you’ll be unharmed.”

“Oh my,” the woman says, and Saeko realizes she's not an old woman at all. In fact, she looks around Saeko’s age. Her hair isn't even grey, it's an ashy platinum blonde—a foreigner, maybe. Worst of all, she doesn't look scared.

“Sis!”

Saeko’s head swivels to look at whoever just shouted, and finds and equally tall boy who is obviously related to Saeko’s hostage. He looks significantly more shocked than his sister does.  

The woman shushes her brother. “It's okay, Lev,” she says. “Don't worry about me.”

The guards don't know what to do in a hostage situation, so they try saying, “Let Lady Haiba go,” and, oh no, Saeko is holding a _noble_ hostage? Her situation continues to get worse, and she can't even reassure herself with the tales she could tell because no one in her right mind would believe her.

“If you make one move, she dies,” Saeko says. She presses her knife into the fabric of Lady Haiba’s dress.

The guards freeze, which is good, because Saeko is queasy just thinking about how close she is to accidentally stabbing her hostage and how she's so tall Saeko's arms are falling asleep. She guides Lady Haiba to the archway. Thankfully Lady Haiba offers no resistance, which almost makes up for the awkward angle Saeko has to hold her knife hand at. They pass a few more guards, who all let them pass without a problem.

So far taking a hostage has been easier than breaking and entering. Saeko’s heart starts to calm, and when the adrenaline rush wears off she’s left with exhaustion. They walk down the street, and once Saeko is in sprinting distance of city limits, she pulls her hostage behind a building.

“You’ve been great.” Saeko puts her knife back in the sheath on her arm. “Wait here a minute before going back, will you? Thanks, hope to never see you again, bye!”

Lady Haiba grabs Saeko's arms before she can run away. “Wait! You aren't here to kidnap me?”

Saeko stares at her. This noblewoman is out of her mind. “No?”

“Don't say that!” Lady Haiba says. “You're kidnapping me, and then we’re going on adventures! It’ll be great.”

“Taking someone hostage is different from kidnapping them!” Saeko says. “No, no, I am _not_ having this argument. I’m escaping. _Goodbye._ ”

“Please?” Lady Haiba grasps Saeko's hand in both of her own. “Pretty please? With sugar on top?”

Saeko can hear guards starting to organize. A bigwig must have realized how poorly they handled the hostage situation. She doubts she can pull the same shabby trick twice. She throws her tired brain through weighing the pros and cons.

“Fine,” Saeko says. “You can come along. But you have to listen to _everything_ I say, got it?”

“Of course!” Lady Haiba looks so excited she's beaming. “I look forward to learning from you!”

Lady Haiba bows, and, not for the first time, Saeko regrets taking this job. She sighs heavily. “Whatever. Just follow me, and _don't talk_.”

Lady Haiba nods and mimes zipping her lips. Saeko can't imagine anything good coming from this, and plans on ditching her in the woods outside the city.

.

“No, this job was a _disaster_ ,” Kamasaki insists. The bruise around his eye looks progressively more purple the longer this one-sided argument goes on. “She shouldn’t be here!”

“What are you talking about? It was a riot,” Futakuchi says. “It went spectacularly bad but we’ve still got the goods,” he gestures to the table, which is covered in jewels and silver and other finery Saeko stole for them earlier in the day. “Stop taking it so seriously.”

Saeko yawns. Normally she’d be in the fray and throwing down in her own defense, but she is too damn tired. The argument is good for her, though—neither of them have noticed the slight bulge in her pocket. Lady Haiba leans over and whispers in her ear, “Was he really that guard back in Iron City?” Saeko nods. Lady Alisa purses her lips. “And did you really...?”

“Nail him in the head with a flowerpot?” Saeko says, loudly enough that Kamasaki’s eye twitches. “Yeah. It was an accident, but it wouldn’t be one a second time.” Her knocking him out explains why he wasn’t there to provide cover for her escape, but she thinks Lady Haiba has gleaned that much already. Given enough time Saeko will find a way to blame Kamasaki for this.

“This is the perfect opportunity,” Futakuchi continues. “They're gonna be looking for her, which means they’ve forgotten we robbed half of ‘em blind today, and if you bring her back then the head honcho will overlook your little mistakes today, blah blah blah, next week everyone will forget about it and we can steal something else.” Futakuchi pauses, then points at Saeko. “Not with you, though. You're public enemy number one.”

Saeko feels a spike of irritation. They've been talking about Lady Haiba like she's not there this entire time, and now Futakuchi decides to diss his best thief to her face? Unacceptable.

“Not my problem,” Saeko says. “I’m going to crash, you two duke it out some more.” She stands. Lady Haiba stands as well, and Saeko glances at her. She has the same pleasant, vapid smile on her face she's worn since they trudged out of the woods, muddy and bug bitten, and stumbled into the Datekou Inn. Kamasaki raises objections to them leaving, but Lady Haiba doesn't spare him a glance.

Lady Haiba’s expression slips into stress as soon as they duck out of the hidden meeting room and into the empty kitchens. “That was...” Lady Haiba pauses. “Unpleasant.”

“A little...” Saeko agrees. She jiggles the heavy bag of coins Kamasaki reluctantly gave her and grins. “No big deal. I got what I came for.” She quietly touches her pocket with the tips of her fingers.

Lady Haiba frowns. Saeko can tell she's about to say she doesn't want to be brought back to Iron City, and thankfully Saeko spots some movement just outside the kitchen and calls out, “Hey, Aone! Come here for a second!”

Aone, tall, intimidating, kind-hearted Aone, steps into the kitchen and looks at her quizzically.

“Could you get Lady Haiba a change of clothes and show her the baths?” Saeko asks. Aone nods. She adores him. Saeko turns to Lady Haiba. “Aone’s a good guy, he’ll get you set up.”

Lady Haiba dresses herself up with her fake people pleaser face and smiles at Aone. She looks beautiful and poised, despite her hair coming loose and the tears all over her nice dress. Aone nods at her, and Saeko knows him well enough now that she can tell he's on the intimidated side.

Saeko grins at him as brightly she can manage through her exhaustion, then heads to her room.

.

For some reason Saeko wakes up in the middle of the night.

She stares up where the ceiling disappears in the darkness and tries to figure out why she's not sleeping. Then she hears a little _tap tap tap_ on her door, and she wonders who the hell would be stupid enough to wake her up after the day she had. She pulls herself out of bed and opens the door. Of course, the question itself is stupid, because who else would it be other than Lady Haiba?

Lady Haiba stares at Saeko with a hand still raised to knock and a lit candle in the other. “May I come in?” Lady Haiba asks.

Saeko gestures Lady Haiba inside, then closes the door behind her. Saeko feels a little bad about passing her off on someone else earlier and decides to let her speak first.

Lady Haiba paces around the room, lips pursed, stops, and says, “If they're going to take me back—against my will—who's to say they won't turn you in for reward money?”

That isn't what Saeko expected her to say at all. She stares at Lady Haiba. “...What?”

“Well,” Lady Haiba says, and she resumes her pacing. “These people you’ve worked with, they're opportunists—”

“Like you,” Saeko points out. “Most people don't try to take advantage of being kidnapped.”

“And you're not?” Lady Haiba counters. “I know you didn't give them all the stuff you stole.”

Saeko's hand drops to her pocket. She pulls out the necklace she stowed in there and watches the light from Lady Haiba's candle flicker the ocean green gem like waves. “How?”

“I’m observant,” Lady Haiba says. Saeko is impressed by how smug she sounds. “I saw you take it out of your loot bag when we were walking over here.”

“Loot bag,” Saeko repeats, amused. She replaces her rightfully stolen goods in her pocket. She’s starting to see how a noblewoman kept up with her in the woods. She blamed it on her being tired, but judging by the mess Lady Haiba made of her dress—well, maybe she isn’t like other nobles Saeko’s met.

“Like I was saying,” Lady Haiba says, “these people are opportunists, and they're going to take me back for either money or personal gain. A few of them are angry with you, so it's easy to imagine they may get greedy and decide to turn you in at the same time. It makes little sense to rescue me without taking in the kidnapper, after all.”

“I didn't kidnap you,” Saeko points out.

Lady Haiba isn’t moved. “Regardless, you’d be arrested as a kidnapper.” She stops pacing and faces Saeko. “I’m leaving tonight,” she says. “I’m not asking for permission. But I would still like to go with you, Ms. Tanaka.”

Saeko studies her. Lady Haiba looks more the part of a traveler now that she's traded her muddied dress and harsh updo for a simple pair of pants and a neat braid. She stares calmly back, but Saeko notices the slight tremor in her hands.

“You can just call me Saeko, you know,” she says.

“Oh!” Lady Haiba says. Her cool noblewoman demeanor slips and she looks excited, like a puppy. “Yes, yes, I can do that! Like friends do!”

Saeko is taken aback—friends? Lady Haiba is an odd woman to want to befriend someone who introduced herself by pressing a knife to her ribs.

Lady Haiba continues, “I’m so glad you decided to go with me, I know I’m a little naive so it makes me feel better knowing you’ll be there to—”

“Now hold up, hooold up,” Saeko says, raising her hands. “I haven't said I was going yet.”

“Oh, oh yes,” Lady Haiba says, pulling herself together, “yes, of course. Take your time.”

Lady Haiba doesn't look like she thinks she's going to dislike Saeko's final decision. She stands impatiently, bouncing on her heels.

Saeko thinks about it. Even without Lady Haiba's wakeup call, she would have woken up early and come to the same conclusion that she needs to leave—probably. And she would have left without Lady Haiba... probably.

...No she wouldn't. She's not sure why she pretends.

Still, she doesn't think Futakuchi and his crew would turn her in for kidnapping and leave her to rot in a cell. It's much more likely they would bust her out later, if they even decided to bother turning her in at all. She’s too skilled for them to alienate her completely. Not to mention most of them are too lazy to bother. However, Lady Haiba doesn't know them like she does, and she can appreciate that kind of caution.

“Listen,” Saeko says with an air of importance. Lady Haiba snaps to attention. “I’ll go with you—but if things get hard, I am _not_ taking you back home. I’m not babysitting you either. Got it?”

“Got it!” Lady Haiba says. She looks like she knows Saeko is full of hot air.

Saeko ruffles the back of her hair. She's only gotten a few hours of sleep, but she feels wide awake and they really don't have time to spare. “I can't call you Lady Haiba if we do this, you know. You’ll be recognized.”

Lady Haiba smiles. “You can call me Alisa.”

Saeko grins back. “Like friends?”

“Like friends!” Alisa agrees.

.

The wagon bumps again and Alisa clutches her stomach. “Tell me when it's over,” she moans.

Saeko rubs Alisa’s back absently. “We're almost there,” she says. She's tired of the trip herself. They've trekked for a week to put distance between them and Iron City, mostly on foot. Saeko decided to pony up some coin for a wagon ride through the vast Blue Forest, but she wishes Alisa had told her about her motion sickness. “Have you never been in a wagon before?”

“They're usually smoother than this,” Alisa chokes out. Saeko wonders what kind of ritzy wagons she's been in that don't bounce everywhere.

It's dark and cool in the forest, but after being cooped up with Alisa in the back of a wagon so packed with crates it’s claustrophobic, Saeko feels antsy and wants to move. The wagon bumps violently, sending Alisa crashing into Saeko.

“Oh no,” Alisa groans.

Saeko props Alisa up and is about to guide her to the open back of the wagon when it comes to a stop. Alisa clutches the wall of the cabin and looks at Saeko with hope in her eyes. “We're still in the middle of the woods, sorry,” Saeko says. Alisa makes a face like a kicked puppy. Saeko pokes her head out of the wagon. They’re so deep in the forest the trunks of the trees that crowd the road are as wide as a child is tall.“Why'd we stop?” she asks the driver.

The driver of their wagon is a tired looking young man named Kunimi. He takes so long to answer Saeko thinks he’s fallen asleep and the horses stopped on their own, but then he answers, “Tree in the road.” He sounds bored, just like he did at the beginning of their journey. “Could be a while.”

“Oh noooo,” Alisa says, slumping over a crate. “More riding...”

“I’m gonna climb a tree,” Saeko announces, surprising both herself and Alisa. She hops out of the wagon, past the startled wagon driver and curious horses, off the dirt road, and starts surveying the trees.

Alisa carefully crawls out of the wagon behind her and sits down in the grass. Saeko is still impressed by how little Alisa cares about getting dirty. “Maybe that one right there?” Alisa says, pointing to a tree to Saeko's left. She sounds much better on solid land, but still shaky. “It's got some nice low branches.”

“What do you take me for, a wuss?” Saeko scoffs, offended. “I don't need any stinkin’ branches!”

“That one, then,” the Kunimi says, pointing to one on the other side of the road. Saeko didn't know he was listening, but the tree is perfect: a tall, ugly pine with no branches to speak of for meters up the trunk.

Saeko takes a running start, using her momentum to launch herself halfway up the trunk. The wagon driver looks interested for the first time all day. Alisa stands, looking a cross between worried and excited. But if there's one thing Saeko is good at, it's climbing. She shimmies up the trunk and hoists herself on the first branch mere seconds after starting. She’s not satisfied with that, though, not when her blood is finally pumping, so Saeko leaps and catches the branch of a second tree, then uses her momentum to flip to another.

Alisa gives her a round of applause. She's evidentially forgotten all about her motion sickness from earlier. “How did you do that? That was amazing!”

Saeko sits pretty on the branch and preens. “I’m just talented, y’know.” She also has gross, sticky sap all over her hands and knees, but Alisa doesn’t need to know that.

Even Kunimi looks impressed. He glances away and presses his finger to his lips. Saeko switches to her professional mode immediately, tensing and surveying the road. Alisa notices the change in her demeanor and looks at her quizzically.

Saeko spots the reason Kunimi told her to be quiet—another of the wagon drivers, the one with the goofy hair that sticks straight up, is heading their way. He isn't trying to approach quietly, so Alisa sees him, too. Saeko jumps to a branch right above the new guy with only the slightest rustle.

“Kunimi,” he says, “You're needed up front.”

Kunimi sighs deeply. His head flopped to the side. “What a pain...”

The other guys crosses his arms. “We need to get that tree moved as soon as possible. Hanamaki said we’d need you.”

“Of course he did,” Kunimi grumbles. Saeko winks at him, hooks her legs on the branch, and slides backwards so she’s dangling upside-down. Kunimi makes an expression that’s a poor imitation of surprise and says, “Wait, what’s that?”

“What’s what?” the other guys says, and he turns around, finding himself nose-to-nose with Saeko.

“Hi!”

He shrieks so loud birds take off from nearby trees. He stumbles backwards and falls on his butt. “Why would you do that!” the guy says. He looks offended, like a child. Alisa howls with ugly laughter.

“Kindaichi,” Kunimi calls from his wagon seat. “Be nice to our customers.”

The guy, Kindaichi, shuts up, which Saeko finds endearing. He doesn't have to be nice to someone who pranked him as an introduction.

Saeko drops from the tree, flipping mid-air to land on her feet. “Like a cat,” she says to herself.

“Hmm, not quite,” Alisa says, considering her. “A cat would have stuck the landing better.”

Saeko narrows her eyes. “I’m _so_ glad you’re feeling better.” Alisa grins cheekily. Saeko snaps her fingers, trying to remember something. “The tree!” she says. “I’ll help out with the tree.”

“I’ll help too,” Alisa volunteers.

“No you won’t. I don’t care how rude you are to your favorite person in the whole world, you still need rest. So rest!” Saeko orders. Alisa frowns in the way Saeko is learning means she's not going to listen.

Kindaichi seems to be recovering from his heart attack well. “Er, well, okay,” he says, blinking. “It's, uh, up there—”

“At the front of the line? Wouldn't have guessed.”

Kindaichi states at her blankly. Kunimi snorts. Saeko waves cheerily and starts walking, too impatient to wait for Kindaichi to get on his feet. Shockingly, Alisa follows her.

They were too worn out way back when Saeko chartered their ride that she hadn’t had the chance to check out the wagon procession. She expected to be in the company of merchants from the cargo of the wagon they’re in, and she's right. Unlike every other merchant she’s ever met with the same boring silverware and pottery, these guys have the most fascinating stuff. She sees one open crate full of bright peacock feathers, one wagon that smells like tart fruit, and when she peeks in one particularly stinky wagon, something in a cage looks back at her. Saeko takes Alisa's arm and steers her away from it, sure her curiosity will get her into trouble.

Saeko sees the roots of the downed tree before she sees the swarm of people around it. The trunk is almost as tall as the two people arguing in the front. “Holy shit,” Alisa says, voicing Saeko's own eloquent thoughts.

One of the arguing men, the taller one with brown hair that Saeko bought their passage from, says, “It's fine, we can get it. Who cares if we have to spend the night here?”

“I’m not risking bandits,” the other, dark haired man says. He crosses his arms. “We need to turn around, find another path.”

“But if we did that we’d have to spend a night in the woods anyway! The closest road to Cat Town is over a day's ride away, and we're already well past noon—it might take _two_ days!”

Alisa stiffens. “We're going to Cat Town?” she whispers in Saeko's ear. Saeko isn't sure how stealthy that is when Alisa needs to bend so far down, but no one is paying them any attention anyhow.

“Is that a problem?” Saeko asks at a more normal volume. “It's pretty far from Iron City. The guards won't follow us here.”

“I’m not from Iron City,” Alisa says, uncomfortable. “I’m from Cat Town. We were on a trip.”

“Oh,” Saeko says. Her mind whirls with information—hideouts in the city itself, nearby towns, the amount of coins tucked in her money pouch, how badly she wants a hot bath, and how stupid she was for not talking to Alisa before picking a destination. “It’s fine. We’ll decide something else.”

The argument for chopping up and moving the giant tree or turning around for a different road goes on and on while Saeko reformulates her plan. “You have to listen to me anyway,” the brown haired one says petulantly. “ _I’m_ the leader.”

“Like hell you are,” the shorter one says.

“You're not,” adds a bored looking man.

“Nope,” says the one standing next to him.

“What about Port Owl?” Saeko says. “I think it's supposed to be nearby.”

“It is,” Kunimi says, finally joining them. Kindaichi lags behind. Saeko wonders if he’s afraid of her. “When this path comes to a fork, it's on the left. We're going right.”

“I vote cutting up the tree!” Alisa says, loud enough that everyone, including the arguing pair, stops and looks at her.

The not-leader recovers the quickest. “That settles it then! If our very important guests are fine with a night under the stars—”

“The trees are too thick to see stars,” the bored looking guy points out.

“—then we should go along with my brilliant plan.” he finishes, ignoring his friend completely.

The one he was arguing with sighs, and Saeko thinks he's going to press the issue, but he turns to the scary looking guy behind him and says, “Kyotani, go get the saws. All of them. We're going to break a few.” Scary guy Kyotani nods, and heads to one of their supply wagons.

“What can we do to help?” Alisa asks. Her appetite for new experiences is one of the things Saeko likes most about Alisa.

“Chop roots?” Saeko suggests before anyone can tell them to stand out of it. Swinging an axe could be a good way to get Alisa into shape. “And once we’re done that, I can teach you how to climb trees,” she jokes.

Alisa looks at her, excited, her motion sickness forgotten at the promise of a new adventure.

.

That night, one of the members of the merchant group builds a fire and they all sit around it on the cold forest floor. Saeko and Alisa huddle together off to the side. Saeko couldn't tell at first, but the rest of the people in their little caravan, from their wagon driver Kunimi to his jumpy friend Kindaichi, are all an established group. Normally she’d be in the middle of it all, forcing her way into the conversation to not feel out of place, but Alisa is tired and they're planning on ditching them later anyway.

Alisa, on the other hand, doesn't appreciate Saeko’s social sacrifice and complains instead. “I wanted to climb a tree,” she mutters. “Curse these sore arms!”

Saeko feels a little guilty for saying she’d teach her, even knowing she wouldn't be able to after chopping wood. She didn't think Alisa would take her seriously, in her defense. “There's plenty of trees in the sea,” Saeko says.

Alisa can't help but giggle. She sobers up quickly, gazing away into the dark forest, and Saeko waits for her to speak. “What did you steal that jewerly for?” she asks.

“Uh, money?”

“No no, I meant the stuff you hid from the angry eyebrow guy and annoying fringe guy.”

“Oh, those,” Saeko says. She's just as startled by the question as she is impressed by Alisa's nicknaming skills. She takes a second to think. She watches the ringleader guy, who she's found out is named Oikawa, attempt to spin a tall tale while his friends interject with loving insults. “I don't want to go into too much detail,” Saeko says in low tones, looking deliberately at their nearby company. “But I will say that I’m stealing them _back_.”

It's vague and not an answer, but tantalizing enough that Alisa's eyes sparkle. She still has that carefully crafted noblewoman cleverness and changes the subject instead of pressing. “Have you ever been to Port Owl before?”

“A couple times. I have a few contacts.”

“By contacts, you mean...?” Alisa asks. Saeko nods. More people that operate less-than-legal businesses that like to commission her skills as a sneak and a thief. “I can't wait,” Alisa says, a little breathless. “I haven’t been since I was a child. I remember the water being stunning.”

“Stunningly stinky,” Saeko says, wrinkling her nose. “It's awful this time of year. Reeks of rotting seaweed. The sailors on shore leave sure know how to party, though.”

Alisa grabs Saeko's hands. “A sailor party! Can we go to one, can we?”

“If you can keep up, Lady Haiba,” she replies, grinning.


	2. part two

The caravan leaves early that morning, passing by the remains of the tree slowly, as each member of their troupe takes the time to mock it. Saeko feels so much camaraderie with this ragtag group of weirdos she’s almost sad when it comes time to slip out of the wagon and into the forest. Kunimi sees them when they leave. Saeko would say Alisa’s clumsiness drew his attention, but her gut says he’s been watching for them. He raises his hand to say goodbye, and the caravan marches on. Saeko and Alisa wave to him long after he’s out of sight.

The forest is oddly silent without the noise of the wagons and horses. A few minutes pass and signs of life return: birds singing high in the trees, rabbits running through the underbrush, and Alisa stepping on every twig and crunchy leaf in her path. 

“Watch how I walk,” Saeko says. 

“Am I that loud?” Alisa asks.

“Yeah,” Saeko admits. “It’s okay, though. We don’t need to be quiet right now, so just practice.”

Alisa threads her hands together behind her back and smiles down at Saeko. “It sounds to me like you’re planning on turning me into a thief like yourself.”

“Well, you  _ did _ ask me to teach you what I know,” Saeko says, elbowing Alisa playfully. “And thieving is what I do.”

“I’m sure it’s not  _ all _ you do,” Alisa says, and although she still has a kind smile on her face, Saeko feels like she’s been scolded, somehow. “How long do we need to walk, do you think?” Alisa asks, changing the subject. “I’m afraid my blisters will have blisters by the time we leave this forest.”

“Good question,” Saeko says. “Hold on, I’ll check.” She shrugs her bag off her shoulder and sets it on the ground before rifling through it. She finds her map at the very bottom, still coiled up but a little squished. She unrolls it and tries to hold it as flat as possible as she tries to find the path they’re on. “Here, I think we’re here,” she says, pointing at the only forked road in the entire Blue Forest. She traces the path to Port Owl with her fingers, measuring it against the distance key. “I think this is walkable in a day. With any luck there’ll be an inn right after we leave the forest.”

“You mean no more sleeping on the ground? Oh, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day!” Alisa sighs so loud she practically swoons.

Saeko isn’t paying attention to her dramatics. She’s too busy staring at the map. Not far from the middle of the path—on the map, at least—are the ruins of old Blue Castle. It’s been abandoned for nearly a hundred years, and all the paths to it have overgrown and become almost impossible to find. It’s one of the places on Saeko’s list, but it was low priority. Her travels have never brought her this close to it.

Alisa kneels next to Saeko. “What’s wrong?” She looks at the map and guesses, “The castle?”

“Yes,” Saeko says. She doesn’t bother being surprised by Alisa’s freakish intuition anymore. “If we went, that would mean one more night in the forest.”

“I’m prepared to sacrifice a warm bed if it means I get to camp out in the old castle,” Alisa says, smiling. “I’ve seen sketches of it in its heyday, you know. It looked like part of the forest itself, covered in ivy and enveloped by the trees. It has a completely different feeling from Eagle Castle.”

“You’re so well traveled,” Saeko says, rolling up her map and stuffing it back in her bag. She stands and offers Alisa her hand. “I  _ did _ promise you adventure.”

Alisa lets Saeko pull her up, which is slightly ridiculous due to how much taller she is. “And you’re delivering, believe me,” she says. “I was told going to the ruins would be dangerous because the forest is crawling with bandits.”

Saeko laughs. “Alisa,  _ we’re _ the bandits.”

“Oh! I didn’t realize!” Alisa says, sounding genuinely surprised.

Saeko shakes her head while she replaces her bag on her shoulder. “C’mon, you can come to terms with your new profession on the road. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

.

The walk through Blue Forest is beautiful. Saeko had no idea. She’s traveled through the forest several times, but she’s always ridden a horse hard to get through as quickly as possible, or chartered a seat on a wagon and slept the entire time. 

The forest is named after the blueish color of the largest trees that grow in the oldest parts. They might be green in the sunlight, but they’re so tall and the canopies so dense very little light gets through. This means there’s no low-lying vegetation to trip over and the entire forest floor is covered by a thick layer of old leaves. The wagon path they’re traveling down is wide, the dirt packed hard from centuries of people walking it. 

They see animals everywhere, from the deer cutting them off to the fox stalking prey in the distance, but no other people. It’s peaceful. Saeko tries to show Alisa how to track, but she’s not very good at it herself and Alisa’s attention keeps wandering.

Saeko is worried she won’t find the old path to the castle, and she’s afraid of taking a leap of faith and getting lost. She almost regrets ditching the merchant group now—they were obviously from one of the forest towns and probably know it like the back of their hand. She could have convinced one of them to lead her to the castle.

She spots it by pure luck, really. Alisa cranes her neck to watch birds fly through the canopy—again—and isn’t watching where she’s walking— _ again _ —so Saeko sidesteps her and just happens to glance down. A few meters off the path she sees an oddly clear area with two very suspicious divots in the dirt. 

Saeko touches Alisa’s arm and points at it. “What does that look like to you?”

Alisa squints and studies it for a few seconds, then looks down at the path they’re on. “Like wagon tracks,” she says, looking at the two gouges carved in the dirt.

“Yup.” Saeko grins. “Are you feeling lucky?”

Alisa smiles back, and together they skip off the well-worn path to the overgrown one.

Saeko quickly sees that the path isn’t as forgotten as she thought. She sees hints of fellow travelers everywhere, from rotting food waste to recently abandoned fire pits. They break for lunch at one of these fire pits, though they don’t light it. Lunch is the same dull one they’ve eaten for the past week and a half, consisting of crusty bread, hard cheese, and dried meats. That is, until Saeko takes out her surprise: some of the tart berries she saw in one of the merchant’s wagons.

Alisa gasps. “You stole those!” she says, taking a handful.

“Yeah, duh, I’m a thief.” Saeko plucks one out of the bag and tosses it in her mouth. The berries have gotten a little squished during their journey, but they’re still bursting with the same flavor she remembers. 

“A beautiful thief,” Alisa says, mouth already turning red from the berry juice. “The best, most perfect thief in the entire world.”

“Aw, shucks. You flatter me.” Saeko waves off the praise. “The way I see it, I’m just collecting my due tax. I probably helped plant some of those berries, they owe me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, these kind of berries are grown around my village. A lot of my friends grew up on farms. I’d help out sometimes.”

Alisa, ever astute, says, “Your family didn’t have a farm?”

It’s an easy segue into fulfilling another thing Saeko promised, so she takes the necklace she stole from Iron City and hands it to Alisa. Alisa turns it over in her hands, getting it sticky with berry juice, but it’s survived worse. Saeko then unclasps the necklace she wears, hidden under her shirt, and hands that to Alisa as well.

The two pendants are a perfect pair, save for the different chains. Both have a smooth, oval gem, set into an intricate, handmade metal pendant. Saeko’s is a shining white gold with a black gem, flecked with fiery orange, while the Iron City pendant is an aged silver with a solid green gem. Alisa gasps in appreciation.

“My great-grandfather made these,” Saeko says, voice low. She’s never actually told anyone this before—it was an open secret back in her village, so she never needed to. “I never knew him, but my mom did. She said he always regarded these six necklaces he made as his greatest work, and he never recovered after completing them.”

“Six,” Alisa repeats, “like the six city-states. These were made for the peace, weren’t they?” Saeko nods. “I’ve read that fine necklaces were among the gifts presented to the leaders of each city-state. I didn’t know there were new ones, I thought all of them were ancient, a past symbol of friendship returned.”

“That was all a lie,” Saeko says. This was the one history lesson she could never fall asleep during. “The king commissioned my great-grandfather to make them, then invented the story and robbed him of his credit. It broke his spirit, and he never made anything ever again.”

Alisa frowns, studying the necklaces with sad eyes. “That’s a shame. They’re beautiful.”

They are, like all of her great-grandfather’s surviving works. Saeko sighs. “See, metalworking was my family’s craft for generations. Mostly weapons, but my great-grandfather wanted to elevate his craft and create beautiful, useful things. He taught my grandmother, but she resented him for not fighting for his proper credit and didn’t continue practicing. And as a result she didn’t teach my mother, who resented  _ her _ for it—well, you get the idea.” Saeko props her head on her hand and stares into the trees. “The mayor of my village returned the Crow pendant to my mother when I was a child... and it—made an impression on me, I guess.”

The truth is, Saeko can’t really explain why she’s decided to steal all of the necklaces back. No matter how much she loved the drumming and racing that came with her previous occupation as a scout, it didn’t feel entirely right. The pendants preoccupied her mind at all times. It wasn’t too difficult to translate the skills she developed as a scout into thievery, either, which made the decision to leave home easier. But laying it all out makes her feel foolish, like she’s seeking approval from a man who died years before she was born.

Alisa leans forward and clasps Saeko’s hand in both of hers. “That’s beautiful, Saeko,” she says, a little breathless. “Like you’re reclaiming your family’s history. Making it your own! You took one look at the hand life dealt you and threw it back in its face.”

Saeko grips Alisa’s hands. “Thank you,” she says, and she means it. She hasn’t regretted taking Alisa along and enjoys her company, but this is the first moment she can say she’s unequivocally thankful she didn’t tell Alisa to take a hike. 

Alisa passes the necklaces back to Saeko, now tacky with dried berry juice, and Saeko puts them both around her neck and tucks them under her shirt. They’re quiet while they finish their lunch, and when they’re packing up Alisa says, “You think there’s another one in Blue Castle?”

“No,” Saeko says. “I know it was there, but it was probably moved after the castle was abandoned.”

“We’ll find it.” Alisa says it with such conviction Saeko smiles.

.

They come across the first ruins of the castle after about an hour’s walk. Alisa speculates it's a guard tower due to the thick stone walls and small foundation. It's set near a spring, guzzling out of the ground, and Saeko dunks her head in the cool water eagerly. It’s so refreshing she doesn’t even care that water drips from her hair and soaks her shirt.

The rest of the ruins are nearby, close enough they would have been able to see them if it weren't for the thick forest. They nearly run right into it, actually. None of the towers survived and few of the walls did, and even those are half demolished. From the state of the castle Saeko wonders if it were scavenged for building materials, or even auctioned off as souvenirs. The people who live in the little villages that dot the Blue Forest are opportunistic merchants, so Saeko wouldn't put it past them.

“Do you think that stream functioned as the moat?” Alisa asks, excited. 

“In the forest? It's more likely they had tripwires,” Saeko says. She has fun considering where she’d put tripwires. She never had the chance to use them in the grasslands back home, but she's always liked the idea of them. 

The front entrance is easy enough to find, since they stumbled right up to it, but it's caved in and has become a pile of stone. They have to pick their way around trees and over fallen retaining walls until they find a gap in the walls they can squeeze through. 

Once inside, Saeko doesn't know what she expected. A dusty, old, untouched castle, full of riches? It obviously no longer has a roof and she already knows it was ransacked multiple times, so that was a silly daydream. She's still surprised by how green it is. Small plants sprout from the half-rotted wooden floors and moss grows over the stone walls. There's even a few bits of graffiti here and there, mostly names carved into rock. Lovers come here often, from the looks of it, along with groups of young mischief makers. Saeko feels a kinship with them. If there were the ruins of a castle near where she grew up she knows she’d go there all the time as well. The most striking thing is how, because no trees grow in the ruins, the entire place is bathed in sunlight. Saeko looks up for her first glimpse of the sky in days.

There’s no hope of finding the pendant here, she knows.

“It's  _ wonderful _ ,” Alisa says, breathless. 

Saeko nods. She’s been all over and she’s never seen anything like it. She offers a hand to Alisa. “Are you ready to explore, my lady?” Alisa smiles, accepts her hand, and together they step carefully onto the rickety wooden floor.

They waste the rest of the day wandering the ruins. They find the remains of a stable, of war barracks, and what Alisa thinks was the throne room based on her memory of floorplans she’s seen. They find a nest of baby bunnies and get serenaded by a bold magpie. At one point Alisa’s leg goes through a particularly rotten floorboard, and underneath they find an untouched wine cellar. It doesn’t take much for Saeko to convince Alisa to try the wine, and she promptly spits it out and curses Saeko for tricking her into drinking vinegar.

The old gardens are Alisa’s favorite place, overgrown with wildflowers and crawling ivy, so that’s where they make camp for the night. Saeko teaches Alisa how to light a fire without flint, which she manages to do successfully after her hundredth try. Alisa then takes off her boots, rubs her aching feet, and flops back on the ground to gaze at the stars.

Saeko takes the opportunity to study Alisa. Her hair's a mess, twigs and leaves stuck in her braid, and she has dirt smudged on her nose. There’s a tear at the knees of her pants already, so Saeko thinks they should get her new clothes first thing when they get to Port Owl. Maybe new boots, too. Alisa hasn’t said anything, but from the way she walks Saeko is sure her boots pinch her toes.

“Do you have a job lined up in Port Owl?” Alisa asks.

“Mm, no, people always find jobs for me when I’m in town.” Saeko grins and points a thumb at herself. “This gal can do things no one else can, they practically trip over themselves to hire me.”

Alisa smiles back and says, “Of course, my mistake.”

A question occurs to Saeko, and she blurts out, “Why did you want to run away?”

Alisa’s smile turns bitter. “That took you a while to ask.”

Saeko shrugs. “You’re the curious one, not me.”

Alisa sits up and purses her lips. “Well,” she starts, but then she trails off, staring at the fire. “Romantic notions, mostly. I had a good life back home. I was well educated, and set to inherit my father’s business. He studies law, you know.”

“I didn’t, but go on.”

“Jerk,” Alisa says without malice. She’s quiet for a moment, and when she speaks again her tone is wistful. “There’s not much to say. I was good at it, but when my father started bringing me along on business, I felt like I was being looked down on. Possibly because my mother is foreign. It doesn’t matter. It’s not what I want. Does that make any sense?”

“Yeah, I think I get it. But going from being a lawyer to a thief is a pretty big leap, you know.”

“Diplomat,” Alisa corrects. “And you’d be surprised. We just steal things with words more often than lockpicks.”

Oh, lockpicking. That could be something useful to teach Alisa. Once they’re in a place with doors, that is. What Alisa lacks in dexterity she more than makes up for in determination. “Have you ever gone camping before?”

Alisa blinks at the subject change, but then her face breaks out in a broad grin. “Yes, all the time! Never anywhere but my family’s gardens, but my brother and I would camp out there a lot when we were little.”

“Your brother!” Saeko says, recalling the tall kid in Iron City’s courtyard. She nearly forgot about him. “What’s he like?”

“Oh, he’s a sweet kid. He wants to be a knight, can you imagine?” Alisa sighs. “He’s always looked up to me. I hope I haven’t disappointed him too much.”

Ah, a disappointed brother. Saeko’s heart twists. She’s had her own experience with that. “I have a younger brother, too,” Saeko says. “He’s hard-headed, he’ll be okay no matter what he does, I’ve always thought.”

“Maybe our brothers should go on a cross-country trip themselves,” Alisa jokes.

Saeko grins, trying to picture Ryu with a scaredy-cat guy version of Alisa—which is how she thinks her brother is like—and decides it would be funny. But what she says is, “I can take you home, you know. If you miss it.”

Alisa raises her eyebrows. “Back at the Datekou place, you said you wouldn’t.”

“Sheesh, Alisa, haven’t you figured out that I’m a big softie by now? I’m weak! Pudding in your hands! I would have taken you back right then if you faked a sniffle.”

Alisa laughs and it’s one of the most beautiful sounds Saeko has ever heard. “I think you mean putty,” she says, smiling. “And, no. Thank you, but no. This feels—right.”

It’s a strange thing to be flattered by, Saeko thinks, but she still feels like she’s received a great compliment. “If you ever change your mind,” she says softly, “just let me know.”

“I won’t,” Alisa says. She rolls over so she’s closer to Saeko, and she’s asleep in seconds.

Saeko lays back, using her bag as a pillow, and watches clouds drift over the night sky until she, too, falls asleep.

.

It's dead quiet in the manor, and Alisa is wound as tightly as a spring. At every creak of a floorboard she jumps and clutches Saeko's arm. And the floorboards creak a lot in the long, old hallway their group is creeping down.

“No one's here, calm down.” Konoha says. Alisa looks at him suspiciously. She doesn't like him much, not since he called her sweetheart when he introduced himself. Suzumeda has picked up on it and keeps shooting him looks. 

She can't keep calm, anyway. They've snuck into the capital building of Port Owl in the middle of night. Konoha is right and the building is currently empty, but Alisa sees disaster at every corner. 

Saeko pats Alisa’s arm with the hand Alisa isn’t holding. “Regret coming yet?”

Alisa gasps and looks at her, incredulous. “No! Never! This is my first real job, and I’m going to see it through to completion!”

She was very keen on taking a job when they first got into Port Owl and Saeko introduced her to Konoha, Suzumeda, and the others. Alisa was particularly impressed by Akaashi the quick-witted information broker. He’s the one who scrounged up this job. It’s a simple one: break into the capital building, find letters that came from King’s City the day before, and make copies. Don’t get spotted, and leave without a trace. It’s a one person job, really, but the Fukurodani gang is just as soft as Saeko is, and two of them volunteered to help out. Part of Saeko wonders if they recognize Alisa and are here to spy, but she trusts them enough to not sell her out.

“You’ll do fine,” Saeko reassures. “You gotta learn on your feet in this profession. And we’re here just in case anything happens.”

Alisa almost looks calmer, but then the wind blows, rustling a curtain down the hall. She squeaks and grips Saeko’s arm so tightly she cuts off the circulation. “Wh-what if something goes wrong? What happens then? What do I do if I’m caught?”

Saeko is taken aback at Alisa’s intense fear. She can’t believe this is the same woman who reacted to being used as a human shield with excitement. In her silence, Konoha answers, “Cry.”

“Point a finger at one of us as the mastermind,” Suzumeda adds.

“Yeah!” Konoha says. “Tell them Tanaka kidnapped you and forced you to come along.”

Saeko squints at Konoha, then Suzumeda, as if she can read their minds. How much do they know? Word couldn’t possibly have come to Port Owl that quickly. And why would Port Owl care about a Cat Town noblewoman who disappeared in Iron City?

Alisa, too rattled to pick up on this, just looks offended. “I wouldn’t throw anyone under the wagon like that!”

“We all—” Konoha starts, but Suzumeda kicks his shin and he shuts up. Saeko knows that look she gives him. It has  _ She won’t listen to you, idiot  _ written all over it.

“We all do it, don’t worry,” Suzumeda continues. “It confuses the guards. Enough for us to find an opening and escape, usually. If they don’t just let us go because they don’t care, that is.”

“...Does it really work?”

“Most of the time,” Suzumeda admits. “We have contingency plans if it doesn’t.”

“And what are those plans?”

“Trade secret,” Konoha says, counting doors.

“Alisa, please,” Saeko says, “I think I’m going to lose that hand.”

Alisa looks down and sees she’s still clutching onto Saeko with all her strength. She lets go. “Oh! Sorry!” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Saeko says, flexing her hand until the feeling returns to it.

“Should be this one,” Konoha says, stopping in front of a door that doesn’t look any different from the rest, and Suzumeda pulls lockpicks out of her pocket. Alisa is too distracted to pay attention to what Suzumeda is doing. She keeps glancing around, like she thinks a guard on patrol will pop up any second. Saeko hopes nothing startles her so badly she screams. That  _ would _ bring guards to their location.

Excluding herself, Suzumeda is the finest lockpicker Saeko knows, and she quickly unlocks the door and opens it. Konoha gestures her inside first, then Alisa and Saeko. 

The room is a small, cluttered office. There’s a mountain of papers on the desk, and Konoha groans. “How are we supposed to find it in  _ there _ ? We have a deadline!”

“Look for the eagle seal,” Suzumeda says in a bored voice. “And it’ll be dated within the past month.”

“That could be about any kind of bullshit,” Konoha points out. He picks up one letter from the top. “Look at this one—it’s got the right date and the seal, but it’s about  _ party _ arrangements. How is that important?”

“We’re looking for documents pertaining to the trade of manufactured goods, specifically those from King’s City, and any relevant tax information, if we can find it.” Alisa says in a clear, steady voice. Saeko and the others stare at her. She glances up when she feels their eyes on her. “...What? Did none of you pay attention?”

“Thank you, Alisa,” Suzumeda says before Konoha can comment. 

They get to looking, but Saeko has no idea what a taxation document or whatever looks like, and soon all the words start to run together on the page and she’s  _ bored _ . She’s never had such a dull job before. Akaashi read Alisa well to know she’d take to this job, but damn Saeko would rather be shimmying across beams on a ceiling to steal a hat from someone’s head than reading boring letters. 

Thankfully Alisa and Konoha seem to have some kind of competition going on, and they find the letters and get to copying. Saeko watches them, hunched over different parts of the desk and scribbling madly.

Suzumeda stands next to Saeko. “She’s pretty,” she says.

Saeko snorts. “Oh please, if that’s all you think of her, then she’s already got you.”

Suzumeda hums. They watch as Konoha shoves his letter under Alisa’s nose and says, “See, look at these discrepancies! We have other documents that show—”

“Oh, other documents!” Alisa mocks. She taps the letter she’s not done copying. “ _ This _ one is all about planning a conspiracy. This is all you would need to present a case for tax evasi—”

“You need more than one stupid letter or these rich jerks would just buy their way out of a trial!”

Saeko presses her palms over her eyes in an attempt to drown out their argument. “This is like getting splinters,” she moans. “Why did I agree to this job? Why?”

Suzumeda pats Saeko’s back in a very unsympathetic manner.

.

Alisa is, mercifully, much calmer when they leave the office. They start walking down the opposite side of the hallway than the one they came from, and she expresses confusion. “Different guard rotations,” Suzumeda explains. “It’s easier to dodge them this way now.” This sets Alisa on edge again, but she’s not clinging to Saeko like a scared child, so she’s going to call it an improvement.

The capital building of Port Owl isn’t grand and imposing like the other important buildings Saeko has robbed, but it’s probably the biggest. Saeko thinks she remembers hearing it’s not just used as the place where bigwig politicians hang out, but it has courtrooms and a department for importation and other things she doesn’t care about. What it means to Saeko is that while they walk through the winding corridors there aren’t shiny things to steal.

Konoha, who has the guard’s schedules and routines memorized, ushers them into a tiny room at one point, and lifts his fingers to his lips. They hear the guard stomping down the hall and Alisa tenses. 

Saeko is uninterested. She looks around the room, trying to find something to occupy her attention. It’s just a run-of-the-mill servant's workspace, probably some sort of seamstress, judging by the spools of thread and sheaths of fabric laying about. There’s even a laundry chute on the back wall. This must be where terribly embarrassed politicians go to have buttons reattached to their coats or something. It’s boring. Saeko almost wishes she were back at the inn, sleeping in a real bed for once.

Konoha opens the door, takes one step out, then quickly retreats back into the room, closing the door behind him. “Nope, nope, not yet.”

“There’s still a guard?” Alisa whispers. “You were  _ wrong _ ?”

“These things happen,” he says. “It’s no big deal.”

“No big deal? You almost walked out and showed yourself, how is that no big deal?”

Suzumeda cuts in between them. “Guys, it’s okay, we just—”

There’s a cough on the other side of the door.

All four of them freeze. Alisa stares at the door, terrified. Saeko glances around for escape routes, noting that the only window is too small for any of them to fit. She lifts the cover of the laundry chute, just in case.

“Oh, it’s just you,” a voice in the hall says. “I thought I was hearing voices. Good to know it was just you talking to yourself.”

A second voice answers, “Oh, shut up,” and Saeko is relieved to see it’s just two guards having a midnight chat.

Alisa is still tense, and she starts muttering, “Oh no, they’re going to find us, oh no.”

Saeko steps up behind Alisa. “Shh,” she says, putting a hand on Alisa’s shoulder. 

Alisa flinches, elbows flailing, and she nails Saeko right in the face. She stumbles backwards into the wall, except the wall isn’t there, it’s the open laundry chute—and she tumbles down it.

Saeko lands on her back on something soft and stinky. Dirty laundry. Great. She shoves it off her face and struggles to get up, hoping Alisa didn’t scream, hoping the guards didn’t storm the room and the others are about to drop on top of her. The night is still quiet, and when she looks up, Saeko sees three faces at the top of the chute.

“You okay?” Suzumeda asks. Saeko groans, gives her a thumbs up, and flops back in the laundry. Now that she knows it’s not an emergency situation her nose is starting to throb.

“I am so sorry,” Alisa says. Her voice is small, and she sounds close to tears. Saeko is going to have to do something about that confidence of hers.

“Tanaka is tough, don’t worry about her,” Konoha says. Saeko is touched that he’d put aside his newfound rivalry to reassure Alisa.

“Can we find a rope or something?” Alisa asks.

“Don’t bother,” Saeko says. “That’ll make too much noise. You guys continue as planned, I’ll meet you out front.”

“Do you even know your way around?” Konoha asks.

Saeko shrugs. “Eh, where’s the fun in that?” She climbs out of the laundry bin and waves at her friends. “See you!” 

She runs off before Alisa can start protesting. Konoha and Suzumeda will trust she can get herself out, or that she won’t snitch if she’s caught. Plus, if she’s moving on her own it means she can look around for hints of where the Owl pendant is. Alisa will look too, she knows, but she can’t move as freely when she’s being escorted by two very serious Fukurodani members. 

She landed in the basement. It’s just as empty as the top floors, though it smells distinctly of cooking laundry. It’s easy to find the stairs. Saeko stops at the top, listening carefully for signs of guards, then slips out the door and into a landing. To her right is the kitchens, and to her left another hallway. She goes left. 

The hallway is almost identical to the one they found the letters in, down to the dull offices of unimportant paper pushers. At the end of the hallway, Saeko learns the benefit of the capital building being used for dozens of purposes: there’s a plaque with an arrow pointing to the grand foyer. “Thank you,” Saeko says to no one in particular, and heads that way.

She keeps to the shadows, ducking into rooms or behind corners to dodge guards occasionally. It isn’t the most heavily guarded places Saeko has broken into, but she knows from experience the guards in Port Owl are a higher quality than the idiots in Iron City. She’s still better than they are, though.

Saeko follows the signs, running through fancier and fancier hallways and rooms, until the ceiling lifts away and she comes to a stop beside a grand staircase. The foyer, she assumes. Across the room she sees three figures: Alisa, staring at something on the wall, and Konoha and Suzumeda whispering together. She steps out of the shadows and walks over to them.

Suzumeda spots her first. “Tanaka. Good to see you.”

“Told you I’d make it,” Saeko says. She flicks Konoha’s forehead. “Betcha didn’t think I would, huh? That’d you’d have to go rescue me?” Suzumeda laughs, and Saeko knows that’s exactly what they were debating doing when she walked in.

“Saeko,” Alisa says quietly. Something in her voice makes Saeko pause. She walks over, and Alisa points at an ornate display case. Behind the glass is an assortment of rich objects that would make any good thief drool, but Saeko’s attention is drawn to the same exact thing Alisa’s was: a marbled black and white gem set into a beautiful gold pendant. 

“It’s pretty, ain’t it?” she says casually. “But maybe later. We can’t let anyone know we were here tonight, and that’s something someone would miss.”

“I’ll have to satisfy myself with just stealing information, then,” Alisa says. She reaches out and touches Saeko’s nose, frowning. “I can’t tell if it’s discolored or not.”

“Eh, it hardly hurts anymore.”

“Still...” Alisa retracts her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“You two can kiss and make up later,” Konoha says. “We’ve gotta leave now.” 

Saeko grins at Alisa, who gives a tentative smile in return. She looks exhausted. She’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep—and hopefully, so will Saeko’s face.

.

They stay in Port Owl for another week. Saeko, under the guise of showing Alisa all her favorite underbellies in the city, listens carefully for whispers about the Iron pendant going missing. So far, nothing, but she isn’t surprised. She found it shoved away in some drawer, crammed in with less elegant welded experiments, not on a velvet cushion like the Owl pendant is. Someone in Iron City was too much of an idiot to realize how valuable it is.

Alisa gets progressively more anxious the longer they spend in Port Owl. She’s terrified of being discovered this close to home, where she recognizes some of the merchants that swarm the docks. The fact that there’s gossip about some missing noblewoman isn’t helping her nerves, even when Saeko points out it could be anyone. Saeko isn’t keen on sticking around too long either, so they plan on stealing the pendant in the early hours of the morning and then book it to Blue Forest.

Although it’s only a few hours past midnight, the night air is extremely humid. “I swear I’ll never be dry again,” Alisa grumbles.

“The charm of the ocean has worn off, huh?” Saeko asks around the lockpick in her teeth.

“I’ll never step foot in this city again,” Alisa declares, which Saeko finds more charming than dramatic. 

The lock on the display practically melts under Saeko’s skill, and Alisa looks suitably impressed. She’s too busy glancing over her shoulder for guards or insomniac government workers to applaud, however. Saeko lifts the Owl pendant from it’s display. Her fingers brush something odd on the back. She flips it over and frowns. “Some idiot welded a pin back to it,” she says. “Look at it! Is it tin? What moron would put this cheap crap on something so beautiful?”

“Yes, yes,” Alisa says. “It’s terrible. You can complain to your heart’s content on our ride.”

Saeko grumbles, but tucks the pendant in a pouch on her belt. She’d put it around her neck like the Crow and Iron pendants, but this one has lost its chain somewhere along the way. The same idiot who welded it probably missed the loop on the top. Alisa puts in the fake they threw together the night before. It’s made out of a painted seashell, which Alisa drew something crass in. For the delight of whoever has the misfortune of discovering the switch, Alisa explained.

They slip as easily out the servant’s entrance as they broke in, and walk out into the night. Saeko looks out over the ocean and squints at the horizon, where the sun threatens to rise. The air feels even stickier outside. Saeko will be glad to be in the cool forest by noon.

Alisa relaxes as they walk away from the capital building. “Will we be heading back to the ruins?”

“Nah,” Saeko says. “There’s no way the pendant’s there. It’s probably in one of those little towns at the edge of the forest. We’ll find it later.”

“Where are we going, then?”

“I think we should go back to my village,” Saeko says. “There’s someone there I’d like you to meet—I think he can teach you stuff I can’t.” Saeko doesn’t explain, but she can tell Alisa is dying to know more details.

They have horses waiting for them at the stables on the edge of town. They leave without telling those in Fukurodani they’re going or even why, as is Saeko’s custom. Alisa turns and waves to the city as they ride away. Saeko laughs at her sentimentality.


	3. part three

They sell their horses at a small town on the other end of Blue Forest and walk the rest of the way. The hills around Crow Village are golden this time of summer, and dry, and the air smells like the tart berries Saeko shared with Alisa all those days ago. 

There’s a few pockets of trees here and there. Most of them were cleared generations ago to make room for farmland. Saeko scans each one they come across carefully, until she finally spots one she’s looking for.

“Watch this,” she tells Alisa, then she climbs up the biggest tree even quicker than she did the one in Blue Forest. The lack of sap helps. She perches on a branch and drops the rope ladder tied to it. “Climb up!”

Alisa struggles to climb a ladder that flies in the breeze, but the branch isn’t that high, and Saeko helps pull her up the last bit. Alisa clings too tightly to the branch, but she manages to look up at what Saeko wanted to show her. “Oh my,” she says. “It’s so small!”

Saeko pats the support beam for the tiny wooden platform built on the tree. “It’s built for one person, but we’ll only be up here for a few minutes.” She helps Alisa move from the branch to the more stable platform, then rolls the ladder up before standing on it herself.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it,” Alisa says. She circles in place, looking out over the grasslands in the gaps in the leaves.

“There’s a bunch all over,” Saeko says with pride. “We take ‘em down in the fall, since they’re easy to spot when the trees lose their leaves. Then the scouts hide in little underground burrows. We don’t really need to since the peace, but old habits and all that.”

“That sound terrible!”

“Hey, it was great,” Saeko defends. “Well, okay, it was boring as shit most of the time, and I got more than enough bug bites for one lifetime, but look at  _ this! _ ” 

Saeko presents a large, orange drum that takes up a corner of the platform. Alisa tilts her head. “Why  _ is _ that here?”

“Just watch!” 

Alisa looks unconvinced as Saeko brushes dead leaves and spiderwebs off the drum. Saeko pulls the drumsticks out of the cloth sheath tied to the drum, twirls them in her hands, then pounds out a familiar rhythm. Low, drawn-out notes emanate from the drum and carry over the hills. The message she drums says  _ I’m here! _ followed by her own personal signature, meant to represent her name.

Saeko finishes with a flourish, and bows as well as she can in the cramped space. Alisa furrows her brow. “Okay,” she says, “that was nice, but I don’t see—”

“Shhhh,” Saeko says, clasping a hand over Alisa’s mouth. “Listen.”

The only sound is the breeze for a few seconds, then Saeko hears the first note of a reply. She grins. The drummer doesn’t identify themselves, just gives and acknowledgement and says they’re coming to her location, but the impatience in the drumbeats is all too familiar. Saeko drops her hand from Alisa’s mouth and perches at the edge of the platform.

“Oh,” Alisa says, eyes wide. “Was that a...?”

“Yup.”

“That’s incredible! I have no idea the Crow Villages had developed a way to communicate over long distances.”

“We tend to keep to ourselves out here,” Saeko explains. She’s too proud of herself, as if she’s the one who came up with the idea. “And everyone’s spread out, so we had to figure something out. Keep an eye out to your left, that’s where he’ll be coming from.”

“He?” Alisa’s head swivels to the side and she blinks. “Someone’s coming?”

Saeko scans the fields, and spots a steadily growing splash of dark among the golden grass. If she squints, she can make out the figure of a human, dressed in the scout’s yellow-brown summer uniform. She points at the person. “There!”

Alisa squints. “Where?”

A strong voice calls, “Siiiiis!” 

“Yuuuuu!” Saeko shouts back. She jumps to the ground just as Yuu crests the hill, and they crash into each other in a bone-crushing hug.

“You’re back! You’re back!” Yuu keeps saying. “I missed you! Things are so boring without you, Daichi keeps telling me I need to be more responsible, can you believe that?”

Saeko laughs. Daichi has been telling Yuu to be responsible for as long as they’ve known each other. “You haven’t been getting into too much trouble without me, yeah?”

“Yeah, tons of trouble! Everyone’s saying me ‘n Ryu are worse than you.”

“No!” Saeko presses a hand to her heart. “Betrayal!”

Yuu laughs. “What have you been up to, Sis? What’d you steal? Can I see?”

“Slow down! First, I’d like you to meet—” Saeko turns to introduce Yuu to Alisa, but Alisa isn’t behind her. She stares at the tree trunk, puzzled.

“Up here!” Alisa says. Saeko looks up and sees her still in the tree, kneeling at the edge of the platform. “How do I get down?”

“Just jump, it’s not that high,” Saeko says.

Alisa looks like she doesn’t believe her, but she carefully sits on the edge and slides as far as she dares, then lets go. Alisa hits the ground feet first, can’t keep her balance, and falls. “Ow,” she says, sprawled on the grass.

“Uh,” Saeko says. She helps Alisa up. “Well, Yuu, this is Alisa. She’s my prot é g é . Alisa, Yuu. He has the sharpest ears out of all the scouts I’ve known.”

“Aw, shucks,” Yuu says, his cheeks going pink. “You’re the best at drum signals, it makes it easy.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alisa says. She brushes off the seat of her pants. “Your brother, I presume?”

“Oh, nah, Yuu is my brother’s best friend. My brother is Ryu.” She pauses, looking Yuu up and down. “He’s basically like a brother to me, though.”

“I’m her best brother friend,” Yuu says, puffing out his chest. Alisa giggles at his nonsense. Saeko finds she feels relieved they’re getting along. “Where are you from? Why’re you traveling with Sis? Obviously the reason you’d wanna is because she’s awesome but she wouldn’t let me or Ryu come with her, what’d you do to talk her into it?” 

“Uh,” Alisa says.

Yuu squints and studies Alisa’s face. “You know, I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Wow.”

“Thank you?” Alisa says. “You’re the most talkative, I think.”

“Thanks!” Yuu says. “How long are you guys gonna be here? Oh! I’ll go get Ryu! He’s on the other side of the—”

“Not necessary!” Saeko cuts in. “We’re just here to visit Akiteru.” She’s not ready to face everyone else just yet.

Yuu, for all his boisterous energy and endless questions, knows when he’s being dismissed. He hugs Saeko again. “He’s at home today. Don’t leave without saying goodbye again! We all miss you.”

Saeko squeezes Yuu tightly. “I know,” she says. “Take care, alright? Save the best mischief for when I’m back for real.”

“Got it!”

Saeko ruffles Yuu’s hair. Yuu walks backwards down the hill, waving with both arms. Saeko and Alisa wave back until he’s out of sight.

“That was interesting,” Alisa says.

“He’s a good kid.”

“I know,” Alisa says, smiling warmly. “He admires you a lot, that much is obvious. Now, who is this Akiteru?”

“ _ My _ best friend,” Saeko says. “He’s a wimp. He’ll love you. C’mon!”

“High praise,” Alisa mutters, but she follows Saeko dutifully.

Akiteru and his family live closer to the center of Crow Village than the outposts, but still in the middle of nothing, like everyone else. It’s a pleasant walk, past livestock and fields of summer vegetables and for some reason Saeko keeps thinking back to Yuu calling Alisa beautiful. There’s no doubt in her mind that Alisa  _ is _ beautiful, but she’s covered in dirt, she reeks of horse, and she introduced herself by falling flat on her ass. The ‘most beautiful’ may be overdoing it. Saeko isn’t sure why Yuu laying it on a little thick bothers her now when she never cared before. 

She doesn’t have time to sort out her thoughts before they reach the Tsukishima homestead. It’s one of the larger houses in the area, two stories with gleaming windows and a fresh coat of paint. Saeko lifts her hand, but the door opens before she can knock. Akiteru’s little brother stands on the other side of the door, staring down at her in confusion.

“Hi Kei,” Saeko says sweetly. “How are you?”

“Fine,” Kei says. He glances at Alisa. Recognition flickers across his face, but he masks it under his usual indifference. He leans back into the house and calls, “Someone’s here!” Then, to Saeko, “Excuse me.” She wants to ask if how much he knows about Alisa, but steps back. Kei walks away, disappearing down the path and through the field.

Akiteru appears in the doorway next. “That kid, I swea—Saeko!”

Saeko spreads her arms wide. “Where’s the warm welcome I was promised?”

Akiteru lets out a laugh. He embraces her, not as tightly than Yuu. “Welcome back, Saeko.”

She pats his back and pulls away. “So, Akiteru, this is my good friend Alisa,” Saeko says, gesturing to Alisa. “And I have a proposition for you.”

Akiteru sighs. “Fine, I’ll hear it, but at least come in for lunch before you go running off again.”

Alisa and Saeko exchange looks, then practically shove each other out of the way to get inside first. They’re  _ sick _ of dried meats.

.

“Train her?” Akiteru repeats. His half-eaten plate of food grows cold. Both Saeko and Alisa’s plates are practically licked clean, in contrast. “To fight? Why can’t you?”

“I’m curious to hear this as well,” Alisa says. Akiteru glances at her nervously, but Saeko knows her well enough now to realize she’s expressing genuine curiosity, not making a jab.

“I’m too short,” Saeko says. They both stare at her blankly. “What I mean is,” she continues, getting annoyed, “I’m shorter than most people, so I use that to my advantage. At all times. You and I even travel through crowds differently. I can’t teach her to fight like a short person, it wouldn’t work.” She doesn’t think she’s much of a teacher either, but she doesn’t say that.

“I’m not sure fighting is for me,” Alisa says.

“I don’t like it much either,” Saeko says, thinking of the knives tucked into her boots that she only uses as fancy cutlery. “But you’re nervous all of the time, and I was thinking if you had a way to defend yourself you’d be more confident—’cause, no offense, but you really suck so far.”

Alisa has a funny expression on her face. “Oh, really?”

“I said no offense!”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Akiteru cuts in. “And I’m sure Saeko is running you all over the place. Could be nice to stick around a while.”

Saeko bristles. Akiteru has always told her she moves around too much, and now he’s playing Alisa to try to get her to stay longer. “Now wait just a—”

“You don’t know the half of it!” Alisa sighs loudly and slumps down in her chair. “You wouldn’t think one could get sick of the sight of trees as thick as houses, but it’s possible, and I doubt I’ll ever forgive her for it.”

“Hey!”

This settles the matter for Akiteru. “It’s part of her charm, I suppose,” he says, “but she does have your back.”

Alisa smiles. “She does.”

Saeko, irritated by being talked about as if she isn’t there, steals Akiteru’s plate and starts eating his abandoned lunch indignantly. They ignore her and discuss her quirks for a little longer, until the conversation changes to what sort of things Alisa wants to learn, and what she knows already. Conclusion: she doesn’t know a lick about combat, but she’s got enough stamina to walk or ride a horse all day, and, as Saeko is quick to point out, she’s surprisingly strong.

Before they decide to head out to the back of the house to begin, Saeko pushes her chair back and stands up. “I’ve got something to do, you guys okay without me?”

“Sure,” Akiteru says.

Saeko nods, turns to leave, but pauses in the kitchen doorway, and glances back. “Hey, Akiteru.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t let anyone else know I’m here, alright?”

He purses his lips and she knows he doesn’t approve. Alisa looks at her curiously. “Alright,” Akiteru says finally. 

Saeko nods, then sees herself out of the house like she has hundreds of times before. She has a gift for her mother.

No one is home, and Saeko is walking back to the Tsukishima’s in no time. She holds the Crow pendant in her hand, tracing the pattern with her fingers. She always keeps this one on her person, as a reminder. The plan was always to drop off the Iron and Owl pendants, so her mother knows she’s being successful. But, for some reason, Saeko couldn’t part with the Iron pendant. She stares at it a long time before she realizes it’s the same color as Alisa’s eyes.

.

The days pass peacefully at the Tsukishima homestead. Kei comes and goes occasionally, leaving for long shifts with the scouts more often than not. Mrs. Tsukishima is home almost all the time, and she takes to fussing over Alisa and Saeko like they’re her own kids.

Alisa learns the basics first, like all kids in Crow Village do. She and Akiteru spend an entire day on stance, because Alisa keeps forgetting and stands like a proper noblewoman, which makes her easy to knock to the ground. Once she’s got that down, they move on to how to escape grabs and proper ways to disarm an attacker. Saeko sits around and shouts out helpful things like “Kick him in the nuts!” while Akiteru tells Alisa that is a viable thing to do in a life or death situation he would prefer if she didn’t try it on him.

Saeko is a disturbed at how easy it is to slip back into the lazy summer village routine. She lies around in the sun all day, picking and eating berries when she gets hungry, runs over the hills when she gets bored, and shows off by hanging from a tree by just her legs for hours at a time. Alisa isn’t as impressed the fifth time she does it, but Saeko tells herself it’s a good core exercise.

Still, she gets antsy with little to do. She stubbornly refuses to make Alisa leave when she’s busy learning, so she ends up leaving during the day more often to wander. One day she walks so far across the vast farmlands and ends up at the base of the mountain the scouts call their base. She lingers, gazing at the nearly invisible path up the rocky slope. It feels like a lifetime ago she used to walk up this mountain almost every day for her job.

She has no time for nostalgia. She turns to leave. Kei stands in her way. Saeko fights down her urge to jump back from surprise, and says, “Shit, you’ve gotten good! Most people can’t sneak up on me.”

Kei doesn’t acknowledge the compliment. “There’s something you’ll want to hear,” he says. He looks haggard. “Please come up to the base so your brother stops yelling.”

“Ryu is such a handful,” Saeko says automatically. She still hasn’t seen him since coming back. She looks up at the mountain, feeling both curiosity and dread. “Lead the way,” she says, and Kei rolls his eyes.

Picking her way between rocks is another habit she slips back into easily, and soon she and Kei walk up the slope to the hidden door in the side of the mountain. The locks have been changed since she quit, so Kei has to unlock it. Inside is as dark and musty as Saeko remember. The corridor is windy and dark. Saeko finds herself holding her breath before the last turn, when the corridor opens up into a large room carved into the mountain. It’s lit by torches and clustered with various scouts’ belongings, piled into the overflowing cubbyholes. There’s a few odd pieces of furniture around, most old and nicked from years of use. Around the table sits a group of five people, all of whom look up when Saeko and Kei walk in.

Yuu jumps up. “Sis!” Ryu, sitting next to him, glares at the floor.

“I’ll be taking my leave,” Kei says, then he adds, as if he thinks they need a reminder, “my shift has ended.”

“Good work today, Tsukishima,” Chikara says. Kei inclines his head at him before he walks away. It strikes Saeko as odd until she notices the orange band on the upper arms of Chikara’s uniform.

“You made squad leader, Chikara!” she says, gesturing to her own arms. “I always knew you had it in you, congrats!”

“Thank you,” Chikara says. He looks embarrassed. “Um, I’m glad Tsukishima found you. Please take a seat.”

The only open seat is next to Ryu, who still refuses to look at her. Saeko doesn’t let it bother her as she sits next to him. She looks around the table at the rest of them. Yuu drums his fingers on the table, Hisashi tugs at a loose thread on his uniform, Kazuhito watches her, Chikara collects himself, and Ryu pretends she isn’t there. It dawns on her that they must be the squad Chikara is in charge of. 

“So,” Saeko says. Kazuhito jumps, like he didn’t expect her to speak. “What is this thing you all wanna tell me? The suspense is killer.”

“Ah, well.” Chikara rubs the back of his neck. “It’s about Lady Haiba.”

Saeko sighs. “Of course it is. Lay it on me.”

“There’s a lot of rumors,” Chikara explains. “No one really knows what’s going on, and only a few of them are linked to you.”

“Like what?”

“I had no idea!” Yuu interrupts. “I didn’t know that was  _ her _ when I met her! She seems so normal.”

Chikara quiets him with a stare. “Like you’re ransoming her off,” he continues. “Or auctioning. You’ve made a reputation for yourself as a thief, that’s the next logical step to some.”

“I would never!” Saeko says, sour. She understands the insidious nature of gossip, but she’s still hurt that people would assume she’d do something so horrible. She’s never even hurt anyone that badly before. A few broken bones, maybe, but nothing someone couldn’t recover from. She takes a deep breath and asks, “How do you even know about Alisa?” 

“We’re reopening old spy networks,” Hisashi says. “We figured it was time to integrate ourselves back in the world, so to speak. Because—um, it was inspired by you, really.”

Hisashi looks at his hands, blushing. Saeko glances around the table and is struck by how intently everyone but Ryu is watching her. She left the scouts over a year ago, but, even with Chikara’s promotion, she would have outranked all of them. They still regard her highly. These rumors must be as personal for them as they are for her.

“What do you think we should do?” she asks, returning their respect.

“I don’t think it’s wise to stay here for long,” Chikara says. “If King’s City discovers her here, they might claim we’re violating the treaty.”

Saeko nods absently. She doesn’t care much for politics, but she knows the secessions Crow Village had to make—namely, reducing the power and number of the scouts. They were seen as a possible threat to peace. Crow Village only managed to hang on to the scouts they have by training them as messengers instead of warriors.

“That doesn’t leave a lot of safe places for me to go,” she says. “I assume you’ve heard about Iron City?”

“Port Owl might be risky too,” Kazuhito says. Great, Saeko hoped Port Owl wouldn’t connect her with the stolen pendant just yet.

“You could take her back,” Ryu mumbles. 

Saeko stares at him. “ _ That’s _ the first thing you’re going to say to me?”

“You kidnapped her!” Ryu starts gesturing wildly, his voice increasing in volume. “You went and kidnapped that poor lady and dragged her across the country with you! How could you do that?”

“I  _ didn’t, _ ” Saeko shouts back. “I didn’t kidnap her, she  _ demanded _ to come along.”

Ryu glares, and it looks like he’s about to accuse her of lying, but then his face falls. “Really?”

“Yes,” Saeko says. “I tried to leave her in Iron City, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I wouldn’t kidnap anyone. You know that, Ryu.”

Ryu’s eyes well up with tears. “Sis,” he croaks. 

“I just remembered we have something to do,” Chikara says, standing up. Kazuhito and Hiashi get the hint, but Chikara has to drag Yuu away by the back of his shirt. They quickly gather their things and leave the hideout.

When the door closes behind them, Saeko says, “You honestly thought I’d kidnapped someone?”

Ryu shrugs miserably. “Mom’s just as mad,” he says. “It’s just—you’ve been doing so much cool stuff since you left, and the only news we get about you is reports from other people—how we were supposed to know!”

Saeko wants to be mad at him. She really does. Guilt quickly replaces anger as Ryu speaks. “Do you really think I’m being cool?” she asks.

“Mom can’t shut up about you.”

“I thought you were mad at me for leaving,” Saeko says.

“I was,” Ryu admits. “But I... erm.” He looks away, suddenly bashful. “I missed you or something, I guess.”

“Nooo, Ryu,” Saeko says, and she starts crying. “I should have written home, I’m so sorry.”

Ryu, the sympathetic crier in the family, starts sobbing. “I’m sorry I assumed you were evil!”

Saeko punches him in the arm. “You’ve known me your whole life, idiot, how could you think I was evil?”

Ryu blubbers out another apology. Saeko hugs him, and they cling to each other and cry some more. She wipes her nose on his sleeve, and he says, “You should come home. Mom and Dad miss you.”

“I will,” she promises. “I’ll tell them all about what a big baby you are.”

“Shut up, you were crying too!”

Saeko laughs and it feels good. She’s got a lot to worry about, but at least her brother is no longer one of them.

.

When Saeko gets back to the Tsukishima homestead, it’s well past nightfall and the dinner Mrs. Tsukishima saved for her is cold. She eats it outside. She sits in the grass and balances the plate on her lap. Alisa sits next to her. They spend a few minutes in silence while Saeko eats and Alisa stretches each of her aching limbs.

“The company you keep is interesting,” Alisa says conversationally.

“Yeah?”

“First those Datekou people redistributing wealth, then Fukurodani exposing corruption, and Akiteru has all these lofty dreams for the future.” Alisa’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “I never would have expected that.”

Saeko jabs Alisa in the side with her chopsticks. “Rude! I’m very worldly!”

“You take every opportunity to declare you hate politics,” Alisa points out. Saeko jabs her again, and Alisa giggles. 

“I guess I just lucked out, meeting good people.”

“I think you’re simply a good judge of character.”

Saeko gives her a look. “Are you complimenting yourself? Is that what you’re doing?”

“Nothing of the sort!” Alisa lies, laughter ringing in her voice. She changes the subject. “So, where are we going next?” 

Saeko’s heart jolts from anticipation. She keeps herself calm though, chewing carefully before answering. “I figure, since you’re so sick of trees and all, we should go check out King’s City. Maybe hit up the palace.”

“The palace!” Alisa says. “That’s the most heavily guarded place in the nation, are you sure?”

Saeko grins. “I like a challenge.”

Alisa blinks at her, then she laughs. “Your attitude is infectious, Saeko,” she says, and in that exact moment Saeko decides Yuu was only partially right. Alisa  _ is _ the most beautiful person she’s ever met, but she’s also the funniest, and the cleverest, and the cutest. She’ll have to tell Yuu how wrong he was one day.

Alisa leans against Saeko. They fit comfortably together. Saeko eats the rest of her meal, smiling, and unable to look at Alisa for too long.

.

King’s City is the most architecturally stunning place Saeko has ever seen. Nearly every building is made from sun-bleached stone, has high, airy windows, and a well manicured garden. The citizens of King’s City use their homes and clothing as status symbols, decking them out in unnecessary, expensive baubles. To protect these valuable investments, King’s City employs only the best men and women as guards, half of which are chasing Saeko and Alisa all around the city.

“This is getting old!” Saeko complains. She makes a rude gesture at the guards. Alisa grabs her arm and pulls her away, but Saeko isn't done. “This isn't fair! Do I have a target painted on my back? Do I!?”

“Does yelling help?” Alisa asks, sounding out of breath. 

“Yes!” Saeko insists. “No? Who cares!”

People gasp at them as they run past, but unlike the citizens of Iron City and their not-my-problem attitude, these people shout insults in their wake. 

The extravagant buildings have very tempting footholds, but climbing is one thing Alisa never understood. Saeko feels backed in a corner. It was stupid of her to drag Alisa along on this idiotic self-righteous mission. They need to stick to running. 

Saeko isn't even sure how they're getting chased. They only arrived in town the night before, and hadn't even broken into anything yet. 

“Down here!” Alisa says. She grabs Saeko's arm and drags her down an alleyway. Instead of running through to the other side, Alisa yanks open a broken door, shoves Saeko inside, then sets the door back best she can. 

They're in a house that looks like it has been abandoned for a very long time. The glass has been blown out from some of the windows and the floor is covered in a thin layer of dust. Alisa swipes at the floor where they step to obscure their footprints. 

Saeko breathes heavily. They listen to the guards run by, but these guys are clever. They're trained almost as well as the Karasuno scouts. 

“I’m going to run all the way to Iron City and punch Futakuchi in the face,” Saeko grumbles. 

“Futakuchi?” Alisa says. “Why him?”

“Because I’m pissed off and he’s closest!”

Alisa smiles sadly. “Saeko,” she says, “do you have a plan?”

“Working on it,” Saeko says. She and Alisa have come too far to give up now. They're surrounded, though. They can't escape to the roofs and dodging the guards is next to impossible. Alisa knows basic combat, but fighting would be foolhardy and she only learned to boost her confidence.

Saeko's beginning to admit it's hopeless. 

“In here!” someone outside shouts. Saeko and Alisa exchange panicked looks. They tear through the rooms, looking for something to help them. Saeko spots a door, and they fly through it and end up crammed together in a tiny closet. In short, they're screwed. 

They listen to the sounds of the guards breaking into the house. “We're done for,” Alisa says. 

“We can still make it,” Saeko says. 

“You don't have to pretend for my sake.” Alisa gazes at the door. “I know they're chasing us because they recognized me. I’m sorry. I should have told you that I’ve visited King’s City a lot. My father is an important government figure.”

Saeko’s mouth goes dry. “What are you saying?”

“This is my fault.”

“No.”

“I should turn mys—”

“No!” Saeko takes Alisa by arms. “Don't. You're not allowed.”

“I’m not saying I regret this,” Alisa whispers, clutching Saeko's hand. “This has been the most incredible summer of my life. If I can do something for you like you’ve—”

“Alisa, don't.”

There's a loud crash in the other room. Alisa speaks more quickly and more quietly. “I  _ have _ to do this. I really like you Saeko. I mean, a lot—I’ve fallen for you. You’ve been  _ wonderful _ .”

Saeko stares at her dumbly. “I...” She swallows.

Alisa smiles at her. She touches Saeko’s cheek and the world melts away. Nothing exists beyond the door. It’s just her, Alisa, and the heat from where their skin makes contact. “Saeko,” is all Alisa says, and then she kisses her.

There are tears in Alisa’s eyes when she pulls away. Saeko isn’t sure why. She reaches up to brush them away, and Alisa kisses her fingers. Then Alisa is gone, and there’s a scraping sound on the other side of the door, and Saeko doesn’t realize what happened until she hears Alisa apologizing profusely, weepy, saying, “She forced me to come along, but she ran off when we were surrounded, please, I just want to go home.”

Saeko swears under her breath and tries the door—but there’s something blocking it. She’s got enough of a mind to know better than to make a racket. If she wants any chance of saving Alisa, she needs to be undetected.

Whatever Alisa shoved against the door isn’t budging, and, in desperation, Saeko slams her shoulder against the door until it opens a crack. She can then squeeze her way out of it, and, damn, where did Alisa find an old chest of drawers? Saeko doesn’t remember seeing it earlier.

She’s taken so long to break out of the closet that Alisa and the guards are no longer in the house. She bursts out to the street, and can’t see them. She circles the house, doubles down the alley, ventures farther away, looking for Alisa.

Nothing. They’re gone. Saeko is once again an anonymous face in the crowd.

.

Saeko lets out a miserable sigh.

“She’s still here?” Mayor Yachi asks, poking around the corner. She leans on the doorway while she puts in her earrings. She looks great, as always, in a plain but well made uniform. Mayor Yachi is the best dressed person in Crow Village.

“She’s distraught,” Hitoka says. Lovely little Hitoka. She’s so sweet. 

Mayor Yachi sighs. “Well, I shouldn’t need to remind you, she’s  _ your _ responsibility.”

“I know.”

Hitoka looks at her mother dead in the eye. Saeko remembers the days when Hitoka was afraid of her own shadow. She thinks about how she helped Alisa gain confidence too and feels sad all over again.

Mayor Yachi spares one last glance around the room, eyes lingering on Saeko still moping on the couch. “I’ll be back late again tonight. Will you be okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom,” Hitoka says. She’s got much more patience with her mother babying her than Saeko ever did.

Mayor Yachi leaves, and Hitoka lingers in the room. Saeko isn’t sure how long Hitoka watches her mope. She just knows that the next time she looks up, Hitoka is gone, and the sun has moved in the sky. She thinks. She wasn’t really paying attention.

She just feels so  _ stupid _ . She’s an idiot. A moron. And heartsick.

Hitoka comes back a few hours later with food. Saeko adores her. She’s the kindest person in the world. “How are you feeling?” Hitoka asks gently.

“Bleh,” Saeko answers. Hitoka hums thoughtfully.

She’s been freeloading in the Yachi household for days, and she finally,  _ finally _ , is starting to get annoyed with being still for so long. She bounces her legs.

“Would you like to go to the market with me today?” Hitoka asks.

“I just wish I could apologize to her,” Saeko says, ignoring her question completely.

“You could always write a letter,” Hitoka says. She nods encouragingly. “You could have it sent with our family seal, no one would keep a letter from the Crow Village mayor from her.”

“I don’t know...” Saeko says. “I don’t know what to say.” She sighs and flops back onto the soft cushions. “Have I mentioned she said she loves me?”

“Once or twice,” Hitoka says in a tone of voice that means she’s heard it too many times.

“I’m not sure how to answer that,” Saeko mutters. “I’m not sure how I feel.”

Hitoka clasps her hands together and looks at Saeko with a stern expression. “May I take a guess?”

“Sure?”

“I think you’re feeling scared.”

Saeko shoots to her feet. “I am not! I’m never scared.” Hitoka raises her eyebrows. Saeko sinks back into her seat, her righteous anger melting into embarrassment. “...I guess you would know all about being scared, huh.”

Hitoka smiles gently. “It’s okay,” she says. “Being scared of stuff like this is normal.”

Before Saeko can reply, there’s a knock on the door. Hitoka excuses herself and answers it. Ryu stands on the front step, out of breath. “Yacchan, hi,” he says, giving a half-hearted salute. “Where’s my sister?”

“How the heck did you know I was here?” Saeko demands, standing up. 

“Are you serious? Didn’t we just tell you that we have—” Ryu cuts himself off and shakes his head. “No, nevermind, you need to look at this.”

Ryu holds out a letter, which Saeko takes. It’s written in Daichi’s neat handwriting and says someone named Kuroo has confirmed rumors of—Saeko gasps. She reads the letter twice more while Ryu waits impatiently. Hitoka peeks over Saeko’s arm out of curiosity. “Is this for real?” Saeko asks.

“Yes!” Ryu says. “Kuroo’s a good source, he’s—”

“I literally do not care,” Saeko says. “Do you know what this means? It means I need to go!” She shoves the letter back into Ryu’s hands and gives him a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you! You’re the best little brother in the whole world, Ryu.”

“Aww, well, you know,” Ryu says, embarrassed. “I’m just doing my best.”

Saeko turns to Hitoka and hugs her as well. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here, I’ll make it up for you one day, promise!”

“Um, okay,” Hitoka says. “Have a safe trip?”

Saeko shoves her belongings into her bag and waves goodbye. As she’s rushing out the door, she hears Hitoka ask Ryu what the letter means and Ryu saying, “Take a seat, it’s a long story.”

.

Saeko turns down the next dead end and mutters under her breath, “I hate this town.”

She swears, whoever built Cat Town was a sadist. Each time she visits she does so with stars in her eyes, expecting things to be different this time, no really! And each and every single goddamn time she gets horrifically lost. 

All the details Alisa told her about her house, from what kind of plants they have in her garden to the ugly floral wallpaper in the sitting room, doesn’t help her at all when it comes to locating it. Saeko wanders the town for hours until she finally breaks down and decides to ask someone.

It’s not hard to get people talking about the Haibas. They’re the favorite topic of gossip of everyone she comes across. Most people will even start talking about them without any prompting. The things Saeko hears about Alisa are almost all hilarious: there’s rumors about her kidnapping, sure, but some people insist she was taken by a gang of marauders on horseback, or she had escaped out to sea to be a sailor, and her personal favorite, that she eloped with the crown prince.

When Saeko finally finds the Habia manor, it’s mid-afternoon. The house is large and peaceful, and Saeko can see how Alisa would both love it and want to get as far away as possible. 

Saeko sneaks in the side door. It looks like the Haibas are out, and there’s only a few sleepy servants walking around. Saeko knows which wing the bedrooms are in, and checks each one until she finds one that’s decorated with an eclectic collection of kitschy cat paintings, rich blues and greens, and muddy boots. Saeko enters the room quietly and closes the door behind her.

Now she needs to wait. And wait and wait and wait. Saeko waits so long she begins to doubt herself. She is the reason Alisa had to be escorted home by a dozen King’s City guards, after all. What if she resents her for it? What if her parents are so furious with her that her life is miserable, and she blames Saeko? She tries to think about the look on Alisa’s face when she told Saeko she loves her, but it doesn’t stop her doubts. 

Saeko hears more voices in the house than before, and she tenses. She goes to the window and opens it if she needs a quick escape. She then stands out of sight of the door, out of habit.

The voices rise and fall, then the door opens. Alisa steps in. She’s dressed like she was that day back in Iron City, with her hair pinned up and her dress a soft red. She looks melancholic. Saeko’s heart clenches. Alisa closes the door behind her and sighs.

Alisa glances over and spots Saeko.

The change is instantaneous. Alisa’s face light up, and she screams silently, bouncing on her heels. “I knew it,” she says, “I knew you’d come back for me!”

“Well...” Saeko says, rubbing the back of her neck. “You’re worth it.”

Alisa steps across the room, scoops up Saeko in her arms, and plants kisses all over her face. “I missed you so much,” she mutters.

A laugh flutters from Saeko’s mouth. She can’t believe she doubted Alisa at all.

“Wait!” Alisa says. She steps back. “I have something for you.” Alisa tears at the pins in her hair. It unravels in curtains around her. Most of the pins Alisa just tosses to the ground, but she keeps the biggest in her hands and starts ripping off the ribbons. Slowly, the intricate metalwork of one of Saeko’s great-grandfather’s pendants reveals itself, and Saeko gasps.

“I knew it,” Saeko says, grinning. “When I heard this was missing, I knew it had to be you.”

“You heard about it?” Alisa frowns and turns the pendant over in her hands. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“No, this is great! How did you do it?”

Alisa can’t hide her pride and grins, smug. “I saw it in the mayor’s office when I came back, and broke in at night and stole it using what you taught me.” 

“Alisa, you are the most wonderful, beautiful, clever person I have ever met!”

Alisa giggles and waves off the praise. “Aw, you’re too kind.” 

Saeko closes her hand over the pendant so it’s pressed between hers and Alisa’s. She smiles up at her.

Alisa gasps. “Wait, I just realized! I should introduce you to my family before we go, so they don’t worry this time.” Alisa tugs on her hands, but Saeko sounds firm.

“No, no, whoa, think this through,” Saeko says. “Take it from me. Don’t give them the chance to say no, just leave.”

“Oh, good idea. A letter? Yes, I’ll write them a letter.”

Alisa dumps everything from her writing desk onto her bed, pulls out paper and an ink well, and starts to scribble a note. Saeko looks over her shoulder and watches her write. She bites back a smile. “I don’t think you added enough hearts.”

“Really?” Alisa looks at her simple letter that just says  _ I’m running off with the love of my life. She stole my heart and I’ll be safe with her. Please don’t worry about me.  _ The entire thing is surrounded by little heart doodles. Alisa draws a few more. 

“That’s perfect,” Saeko says. If unchecked, Alisa may fill the paper with hearts.

Alisa folds the letter and seals it, smiling the entire time. “I’m already packed up,” she says, “I knew you’d come! I have a bag under my bed all ready.” 

Saeko peeks under the bed and pulls out said bag. She feels a pang of guilt once more for waiting so long. Alisa puts the letter on her cleared desk, and quickly begins to change into her old traveling clothes. She leaves her hair free, billowing around her like a curtain. Saeko catches a lock and kisses it.

Alisa throws an arm around Saeko’s neck. “So, my knight in shining armor, I’m ready to ride off into the sunset on the white horses I’m  _ sure _ you have waiting for us.”

“Hope you don’t mind disappointment,” Saeko chimes. She stands on her toes and presses a kiss to Alisa’s lips. 

“You could never disappoint,” Alisa says. 

They leave through the window and sneak through the garden. They run off through the woods, hand in hand, ready for their next adventure.


End file.
